The Tardis Complexity
by stl85
Summary: This is Dr. Sheldon Cooper for experiment Tardis. Our previous data has come back with very positive results. This will mark the first time we will be using human test subjects...This is also the first time I've post a fanfic so please bear with me.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This isn't my first fanfic, although this is the first time that I have ever had the guts to publish one. I have no Beta, so all faults are mine and mine alone. I own Marie, but everything else belong to someone else. I also am NOT gonna beg for reviews because I can't stand it when other authors refuse to post more until they get a certain amount of reviews. I'd like it if you would but I also understand it if you won't. It takes a special story for me to review too! **

**Enjoy.**

"This is Dr. Sheldon Cooper for experiment Tardis. Our previous data has come back with very positive results. This will mark the first time we will be using human test subjects. Marie will attempt to go ahead in time 20 minutes. She will use the Tardis M3 in our lab and will appear 20 minutes later in the south end of the campus known as CalTech." Sheldon paused to take a look at Marie. "Subject is in good cheer, although slightly nervous. Nerves are understandable considering the occasion." With that, Sheldon hit pause on the recorder.

"Sheldon, we need you over here." Howard called. "We are double checking everything and I want to make sure that your end is up and running. Can't lose an intern just because we hit the wrong button." He joked.

Sheldon visibly paled. It never occurred to him that Marie's safety would be in the hands of an engineer who only got his doctorate one year ago. He hurried to the computer.

After assuring himself that all of the equations were still correct, he braved the herd of interns surrounding Marie.

"We are ready for you Marie, please make your way inside the taped off markers." The tall red headed girl turned and smiled at him. "Anything for you Dr. Cooper." A slight eye roll followed by a smile was Sheldon's response.

Marie made her was to the middle of the marker with Sheldon following close behind. He positioned her body to make sure it was in the proper place then grabbed her wrist to double check the co-ordinates. Once he was certain that everything was correct, he started to ramble.

"Now, this should take you to approximately 20 minutes ahead. For you it will happen in the blink of an eye. I have a feeling that it will be an eternity on this side of the equation but I digress. You will end up on the southern end of campus. Our team will be divided, half at the starting point and half at your end destination." Marie just nodded, she had learned that sometimes it was best to just let him say what he needed instead of cutting him off. It was his way of saying he was worried. That he cared about her and didn't want anything to happen to her. "You do realize that we don't have to do this. Not today." Sheldon reached his hand up and cupped her cheek. "We can wait until you are more comfortable, or do a few more tests. We can use someone else too. It doesn't have to be you sweetie."

Marie cocked her head to the side while she studied him. He patiently stared back, waiting for her brain to finish thinking. He was one of the few individual on the planet who understood her need to think and process before she spoke. It was imperative for her to reach a logical conclusion.

"First, I do realize that I don't have to do this. I could let anyone else in the world do this but you and I both know that I will not. I helped with the designing, along with Issac and Rose. I won in rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock five time in a row. I have earned the right to do this. It has to happen today, it is all over the university. I refuse to be made a mockery of. We have done all sorts of tests from paper to stuffed animals to rats and bunnies. This WILL happen today." Impulsively she gave him a hug and was grateful he didn't stiffen up this time. Instead he pulled her closer and kissed her forehead.

"I'll see you in twenty minutes Marie." With that Sheldon stepped back and turned on his recorder. "Test subject Marie is in position. Marie, please turn on the device." A slight hum emanated from her wrist. "Please use the Tardis M3." With a smile, Marie hit several buttons on the device and abruptly disappeared.

And reappeared exactly where she should be. The southern end of CalTech. A self satisfied smile graced her face before confusion set in. There was no tape marking where she should have landed. Looking around Marie noticed that something was wrong. Very very wrong. The trees were wrong. It was supposed to be mid-fall and there were no leaves on the ground. They were all up in the trees still green as could be. Understandably in California you could barely tell the difference using weather but the trees always knew. It was one of the few things Marie loved about nature. It always knew what to do.

Reflexively Marie checked her Tardis again. "Oh! I see the problem! Oh no, he made a boo-boo." She did some quick calculations in her head. "So that means not twenty minutes but twenty years. Great. So that means it's 2013. No problem, I will just go back and tell him that he was wrong. God I love telling him that he is wrong" Marie hit the return button and closed her eyes. Hopefully she opened them, in the same place. Frustrated, she hit the button again and again and got the same result. "So now what happens?" Marie asked herself. Again numbers flew through her mind as she tried to figure out where the only two men on the planet that could help her were.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Total transitional chapter that I'm not completely happy with, but it's gonna get me where I need to be.**

Wednesday. New comic book day followed by crushing his friends and dear acquaintance in Halo. What a lovely evening. There was only one flaw in an otherwise perfect evening, and that was bringing his friends along.

"I'm telling you Raj, if I wasn't married I could still get any girl I wanted. Sadly, this horse has been saddled."

"Oh please Howard, you couldn't get Jessica Alba in any universe let alone one where you look like the nerd version of Justin Bieber" Raj told him.

"And you could?"

"Well, I'm Indian. That means that I am the perfect flavor of exotic yet attainable."

"Really?" Lenard interjected. "Then go talk to that girl right now without having happy hour."

At once four heads turned to look at the girl who just walked into the comic book store. The girl who was headed directly towards them.

"Dr. Cooper? I need to talk to you for a minute in private if that's alright." Three heads immediately looked at Sheldon, who for once looked confused rather than condescending.

"Alright." He replied. They walked to the magna corner where Sheldon was immediately violated with a hug that was so tight he thought he would lose the ability to breathe.

"For once I'm happy that you have routines. For once I'm happy that I knew exactly what you would be doing and where you would be doing it." Sheldon pulled himself away and not so discreetly grabbed his emergency Purell out of his bag. He rubbed a large amount of the germ killing liquid onto his lower arms and hands before facing her again.

"Who are you and why did you just violate me? I don't like people touching me. Don't do that again." He didn't like the look she gave him. It was a mixture of sadness and a dawning comprehension that she was wrong.

"Please tell me that you know who I am...please?" The last word came out to a whisper. Sheldon took in the girl before him. She was almost as tall as him, with red hair put up in an odd contraption that females thought looked good. She had holes and burn marks all over her clothes. He searched his memory quickly.

"No. I'm afraid that I can't tell you that I know who you are."

"Are you sure?" The question barely passed her lips before he answered.

"I have an eidetic memory. I remember everything and everyone. I do not know you." Even Sheldon could understand the look on her face. It was the same look he had when he was sick for Comic Con in 1998. Absolute devastation. A fake smile quickly covered her features.

"Well then, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Marie. I am an undergrad at CalTech and I need your help."

"I do not write papers for money. Furthermore flirting will not get you a passing grade nor a footnote in any of my published works. You are wasting your time young lady. If you are not smart enough for physics then perhaps your should choose a more appropriate profession? May I suggest babysitting?"

Now came a look that Sheldon saw at least three times a week on Penny's face whenever he pointed out one of her flaws or cleaned her apartment without permission.

"Sheldon, aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?" Lenard asked him.

"She isn't my friends she -"

"Hi! My name is Marie. And you are?"

"Lenard. My...my name is Lenard." A dark look passed over her face.

"Your name is Lenard?" A cautious nod answered her. "Well, nice meeting you I guess. I really need to talk to Dr. Cooper though so if you could excuse us?" Feeling about ten inches tall, Lenard shuffled away to the sound of his friends laughing.

"Dude, you got shot down hard!"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Seriously, what did you say to her? She looked like she was going to sucker punch you in the face!"

An annoyed look crossed Lenard's face. "Raj, I told you to drop it! I don't wanna -" A shouting Sheldon interrupted him.

"What do you mean, you're from 2033?! That's not possible!"

"It IS possible, because I did it! I think that what you are trying to say is that it is improbable. However, with a working knowledge of physics, everything and anything is possible." Marie told him with a smirk on her face.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Again, no Beta all faults are mine. This is a bit of a longer one, and I'm still working on how to have everyone there that I want and juggle all of their dialogue.**

Penny was trudging up the stairs after a double shift at the Cheesecake Factory, wondering if she had any wine left when she heard shouting. With a quick eye roll she hurried up the last flight, hoping she could get them to at least fight quietly. She had a rough day and wasn't about to let them ruin Penny Time. The closer she got to the fourth floor, the clearer the argument got. A hyper Lenard, an excited Howard, and a very southern Sheldon. No Raj? Penny cocked her head to the side. Ahhhh, a girl was shouting back.

"I know the Tarids isn't real! Do you think I'm stupid? Trust me, I'm **not** stupid! I have an IQ of 178, which I disputed but my father told me no. Repeatedly. And I'm not crazy either, he had me tested for that as well. It's a mock up called the Tardis! Are you sure **you're** not the one who is stupid?" A very female voice shrieked. Penny decided not to knock (again) and just barged in (again).

The scene was an odd one. Sheldon was standing, completely confrontational. He standing completely straight, arms crossed across his chest. There were veins threatening to pop out of his neck at any given moment. Directly across from him, standing in front of the island was what looked like an attractive girl, who apparently knew what a Tardis was. And she was standing up to Sheldon. Penny liked this girl already. Lenard was sitting in his chair, a look of complete fascination on his face. He was staring like he used to look at Penny. Utter and complete devotion. Creepy utter and complete devotion. Raj wasn't saying anything of course. The second estrogen enters the room he turns wonderfully mute. Howard was the one the scared her the most. He wasn't leering like he usually does with an attractive lady, and he wasn't making obvious double entendre. It looked like he was in complete science mode. No emotions, all logic. Penny had only seen that look on him a handful of times, mostly when he was in the running for the whole astronaut thing.

"Stupid?! Stupid?! Listen here Missy, I've been called a lot of things in my life, but I will allow no one to call me stupid! You may or may not have an IQ of 178, but mine is 187. I also have two doctorates and was the youngest person to win the Stephenson award. Who are you to call me stupid?"

"Sheldon, you need to calm down."

"Calm down? Calm down?! Lenard, do you not see that this girl is trying to 'pull one over' on us? There is no way that she is from the future. We have no proof. She could very well be trying to trick us and kill us in the night so that she could take all of our comic books, though why a girl that attractive would be interested in comic books is beyond even my remarkable intelligence." Penny didn't know why, but she thought that she should be insulted by that statement.

"Proof? Proof of what? What are all of you yelling about?" Penny asked.

"Penny? Hi! Yes, well this is Marie and ..." Lenard was interrupted by Sheldon.

"This child is trying to tell me that I have invented a time machine with Howard no less. if I ever did perfect a time machine, I'd just go into the past and give it to myself, thus eliminating the need for me to invent it in the first place. Therefore.."

"How could you give it to yourself if you haven't perfected it yet?" Marie cut in. "If it wasn't mastered you wouldn't give it to yourself yet for fear of self criticism. You are always your worst critic. Why don't you believe me?" The question was desperate.

"Well, first off right now time travel is impossible. And if I ever did make a time travel device, I would sure as shooting be the first test subject. Twenty years would not be enough time for technology to advance. We would not have the ability to travel through time yet. Also, your clothing is tattered and worn, obviously you are homeless and in need of shelter."

"I'm sorry. I just was ripped through the time vortex and placed here due to your incompetence, so please pardon my clothes." Was the sarcastic reply.

"What a minute. Are you saying that you are from the future?" Penny interjected. Two pair of eyes focused on her immediately. "Well, are you?"

"Yes, I am." Marie paused for a minute. "And you are?"

"Penny."

"Marie." She said with a soft smile on her face.

"Excuse me." Howard said. "As much as I hate to admit this, Sheldon has a point. This is an unbelievable story, and as bad as I want to be a part of creating a time machine, I think we do need some sort of proof. Can we see this Tarids?" Marie slightly un-nerved him with her stare.

"Yes, you may." She immediately set about undoing the contraption that covered her upper chest and arms. Once it was off, she laid it carefully on the coffee table for inspection then wandered over to one of the many whiteboards in the apartment and erased everything on it, ignoring Sheldon's squawks and began writing out an equation that Penny couldn't even begin to understand.

"What is that?" Penny asked her.

"Sheldon's equation for time travel." Marie told her. Sheldon immediately went to the board, determined to prove this insolent child wrong.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Ok, so the beginning made me happy but I know that the conversation with Penny and Marie could use some work. I tinkered with it all day and this is the best that I could come up with. Tomorrow I have jury duty so I'm sure that I'll have time to write some more.**

Three hours later and Sheldon was no closer to proving her wrong.

"Hey, twitchy magee, are you ready to prove her wrong yet?" Penny asked him. She rather enjoyed these rare moments when Sheldon was completely out of his element. It helped remind her that he was indeed human.

"I just don't understand. This is beyond anything even the great Sheldon Cooper could think up." Lenard commented. Marie gave out a little laugh.

"Don't you see?" She glanced around, looking at blank faces. "This means that he didn't come up with the equation. It was given to him! Oh, I can't wait to go back and rub that one in your face Dr. Cooper!" She giggled.

"But, I thought that you said he came up with all of the math for this." Howard asked.

"I did say that. Because I thought that it was true at the time. But it's not true anymore. Think about it." This time Sheldon's face showed comprehension while everyone else looked confused.

"Of course. By going back in time and showing me the equations you have removed my need to create them. However, I will still be taking credit for them it seems." He shrugged. "Eh, why not. I would not mind adding discovering time travel to my lists of accomplishments." Lenard, eager to get in good with the new girl spoke up.

"Sheldon, that's not right. Marie showed you all of this and technically it belongs to her now. She should take credit for all of this."

"No, I can't. If we are going to get all technical, I shouldn't be here. At all. I am not even a thought at this point in time." Came the biting reply. "And in the future it is known as the Cooper-Wolowitz experiment. I won't change that."

"Haven't you changed stuff already?" Penny asked her. "You know, the whole step on a butterfly in the past and all the sudden dinosaurs are back and we don't have air conditioning or cable?"

"Who would want to step on a butterfly? What did they do to you?" Marie asked her.

Penny gave her a glare. "You're a genius right? Well figure it out." Marie just smiled at her.

"Sheldon, Howard, you guys need to take a break. You aren't going to figure anything out tonight."

"Lenard's right you guys. Tomorrow's Thursday: pizza night. You can work on it some more then after you have had a good REM cycle." Penny put it out as logically as she could to get Sheldon to agree. He looked angry, confused, and tired.

"I agree with you Penny." Marie said and got up. When she started erasing the equations Lenard tried to stop her.

"What are you doing?!"

"Don't worry. Dr. Cooper has an eidetic memory. He hasn't forgotten it. And it's best to not leave work around. You never know whose gonna copy it." Marie said with a glare. "It's 10:00. Time for bed. Lenard, Dr. Cooper, can I please stay here for the night?"

"Oh I don't think so." Sheldon told her.

"Sheldon, be nice." Lenard scolded. "Of course you can stay here for the night."

"No, she can't."

"Why can't I?" Marie asked him.

"Because we don't have house guests. Goodnight." With that Sheldon retired to his room.

"You can stay with me for the night if you want."Penny told her.

"Are you sure Penny? I don't want to intrude or anything. You don't know me at all." Marie said.

"Trust me, at this point it's either Howard or Raj. I'm the better option." Marie smiled at her.

"Sure. Why not. Goodnight Howard, Raj. Bye Lenard."

The walk over to 4B was silent. Penny was waiting until they were alone to have a talk.

"Wine?"

"No thank you. My parents didn't drink. At all. My mother called it an un-needed crutch for coping with disappointment. You go ahead though." Penny just shook her head.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Well, you just did. But if you want you can ask another one."

"You geniuses are all alike. Ok, my question is why don't you like Lenard? Did he do something to you in the future or something?"

Marie stared at Penny for a moment. It reminded Penny of when Sheldon was trying to lie. "He took something very dear from me and my family. A couple of things actually. My father has never really recovered from it."

"Family's important to ya then?" At this question Marie's face light up.

"Oh my yes. I have a brother and a sister. They are a couple of years younger than me. They are only 15. Twins in every sense of the word. Then there's my dad. He's a physicist like your friends. He's the smartest man I know."

"What about your mom?" Penny asked her and instantly knew her window to learn more was over.

"It is now past 10:00. If it is alright with you, I would like to go to bed."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N. Short I know, but jury duty kinda sucks all of the creative out of you. But it does start the romance part a little bit. **

Three days. Penny still couldn't believe that it took Sheldon three days to believe this girl. Penny believed it the second she took control of Sheldon's board and starting writing down stuff that looked like it came out of a sci-fi movie. Marie seemed to take this all in stride. She seemed to think it was funny. So did Penny.

"Dr. Cooper...are you ready to apologize to me yet? You've had three days in which to realize that I am who I say I am. 72 hours. 4320 minutes. 259200 seconds. Do I need to go on?" Marie asked him.

"Sheldon, I think that on this we will just have to suspend belief." Howard told him.

"And what about proof? We still have no proof!" Penny watched in fascination as the veins bulged out of his neck again. That just brought to mind other things that could bulge on a man's body. Penny blinked rapidly, trying to shake the image out of her head.

"I believe that the girl who knew which comic book store you would be in, knew not to sit in your spot, calls my housekeeping inefficient, and corrected two of your equations already would be considered proof." Penny told him.

"Don't forget pretty and intelligent." Leonard added. He was still trying to get into her good graces. Or her pants. With Leonard you never really knew.

"Seriously, do you not know that I am only 17? And I haven't even been born yet in your time frame? Plus, I have a boyfriend." Marie was tired of Leonard and it has only been three days. "Can you two fix the Tardis M3 or not?"

Penny tried to intervene.

"Boyfriend? Is he cute?" Marie smiled and shook her head.

"Not normal cute, but I think so. He's a freshman in college right now, studying to be an engineer. My dad can't stand him." Penny laughed. She remembered all too well dating the one boy in the world daddy can't stand. "Of course, engineers are pretty much nothing but the oompa loompas of the science world but he is still pretty awesome." Maria concluded.

"Whatever you do, don't call him that to his face." Howard told her. "Nothing kills the romance more than being related to little orange men"

"It's ok, he calls me a Cylon. I'm pretty sure we are covered in the insult department." Marie told him with a smile.

"Cylon!" Sheldon jumped up and wrote it under his theories list. Penny just shook her head.

"Seriously? Cylons Sheldon?" Penny asked, secretly grateful that he decided to be nerdy at quite convenient times. It did help kill the libido when it popped up unexpectedly.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thank you Wolfofsheep for pointing out the whole Lenard not being spelled right. It should be Leonard, you are right. However, I am lazy and will more than likely not go back and fix it. It will be right from here on out though. Like I said, no Beta. All faults are mine.**

"End scene" Marie said with a smirk on her face. She had been facing away from the tv, with it on mute, quoting word for word the latest episode of Dr. Who.

"Fine. I believe you." Sheldon said. "And thank you so much for ruining what is sure to be a classic episode."

"You believe though right?"

"I believe your premise." Sheldon told her. "As a man of science I must withhold a certain amount of disbelieve, no matter what. However, I am willing to help you. I want you out of my house. You are becoming a distraction." He turned to Leonard. "Call Howard. Apparently he is a part of my success, although how a man who only has a master's degree could help me in any way is baffling." He went into his room, completely unaware that he had insulted Howard. In fact, he thought it was a compliment.

After Leonard texted Howard, he offered to take Marie with him to get dinner. "I know how hard it is to just stay in a room all day with Sheldon. He is a great guy, but a little bit...well we call him quirky."

"I assure you that I am well accustomed to Dr. Cooper's idiosyncrasies. I'm probably more aware of them than you are in the future. Please go and get the food. We will be here when you get back." Marie was trying everything that she could to be civil towards Leonard, after a very long scolding from Sheldon about proper etiquette towards unwilling hosts. Apparently by the look on his face she failed. Again.

"You look distressed. Do you require a hot beverage?" Sheldon asked her. He was carrying her Tardis and notes taken so far. She shook her head.

"No. I do not require a hot beverage. I just wish that my dad was here. He would know what to do. He would be able to fix it. He could get me back to where I need to be. I just want my dad." Marie ended in a whisper

Sheldon knew that she wanted to be comforted, but he couldn't figure out how. He usually wasn't the one that people went to for comfort or affection. He settled for patting her shoulder, ignoring the fact that she flinched away from him. "There there. Dr. Cooper is here." Sheldon also decided to ignore the tears silently going down her face.

Or tried to anyway.

Howard chose that moment to open the door. He took in the scene before him, nodded, then turned around to get Penny who entered the apartment like a whirlwind.

"Sheldon!" Wonderful, Penny was mad. She was going to go Incredible Hulk on him. "What did you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything woman! She is the one who starting lamenting over her predicament, and about how her father isn't here and then she started crying. I did not as you say 'do anything' to her." At this point Sheldon looked just as upset as Marie did. Why did Penny always think it was his fault. It wasn't always his fault. In Sheldon's opinion it was very rarely his fault although those of lesser minds (namely everyone else) tended to think differently. This was a perfect example of why he shouldn't have let Leonard invite her to lunch all those years ago.

"I'm fine. I'm ok." Marie announced to the room. "Seriously, I'm ok." She told the Howard and Penny. Sheldon had already written her off, taking her at face value like he did everyone else. "I just had a moment of weakness is all. I've been here for two weeks. I'm ready to be where I'm supposed to be." She turned to Howard, "And I can't wait to make fun of you either." Marie attempted to lighten the mood. "Those tight pants? And why do you have an alien pin on your dickie? More importantly, why are you wearing a dickie?"She was rewarded with a hearty laugh from Penny and a breathy gasp from Sheldon.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: And here you are, a twofer! Two chapters, one day mainly because this is the part of the story in my head that gave me the idea for this story. It was finally time to bring it in and I was excited because this part of the story wrote itself. And most of you will be patting yourselves on the back!**

Penny was minding her business, drinking her brain quiet when she heard three very familiar knocks.

_Knock knock knock_

Penny?

_Knock knock knock_

Penny?

_Knock knock knock_

Penny?

"My Sheldon, how your voice has changed." She muttered to herself and opened the door to reveal Marie. "What's up?"

Marie looked uncomfortable. "Can I stay here again? Like on the first night that I was here? I really need a break." Penny nodded and stepped back to let her in. "You know, it's funny. Where I'm from I would have done anything to be around Dr. Cooper as much as I am right now. But, now that I've gotten my wish, I'm ready to strangle him with my bare hands." Penny knew the feeling all too well.

"So you know Sheldon pretty well, in the future I mean." Penny asked her.

"Oh yeah." Marie looked away and smiled. Penny felt a rock plummet into her stomach and lodge there.

"So you guys are pretty close then? In the future I mean." Marie stared at her for a minute.

"Well, we are very rarely in very close proximity to each other." Marie laughed at her own joke. "Yeah, we are pretty close. As close as you can be to him at least. It's hard to get to know him. Hell, I think that you could know him your whole life and still not figure him out unless he wanted you to." Penny nodded, not even paying attention to her guest anymore. All she had were images. Images that used to make her happy. Sheldon giving gentle kisses. Sheldon with bed head and sleepy eyes. Sheldon being talked into drinking a glass of wine. Sheldon cuddling on the couch. Sheldon taking off his shirts as fast as he could to be able to feel the woman under him as much as he could. Sheldon writing equations and being distracted by a gentle kiss and a tug into the bedroom.

Now instead of the woman being Penny, it was Marie. Instead of Penny being the one to bring out the human in Sheldon, to turn him from a puppet to a real boy, it was Marie.

"I need a drink." Penny stated. "Lots and lots of drinks." She got up to refill her glass. "Do you want some?"

"Penny, I'm 17. The legal drinking age is 21. I cannot drink Penny." Marie looked insulted.

"Oh lighten up. I'm not gonna be the one to rat you out. And it's only wine, not vodka or anything like that. You'll like it."

"Ah, peer pressure. Can't say no to peer pressure. Just one small glass though, ok?" Penny nodded in agreement.

One small glass had somehow turned into six large glasses. A very slightly buzzed Penny looked down at a very drunk Marie. Somehow she had managed to get off of the sofa and onto the floor. Thank god for Nebraska. Otherwise Penny would probably be in the same state if there was more to do there than sit in a parking lot and drink. Noticing Marie's mouth moving Penny tried to tune in her words.

"...and **that's **why people think that physics is boring. It's **not** boring! It's what makes the world go around and around! Think of it like this ok? Stars are made up of elements, and when a star explodes, it creates new stars and planets and the life forms that are created on the planet. **That **means that we are all made up of stardust. Tiny little particles that have been around for billions and billions of years! If you close your eyes, I bet you could feel it. You could feel the universe turning and shaping and becoming something new all the time! Close your eyes, do you feel it?" Penny obediently closed her eyes. All she saw was Sheldon. Tall, not too skinny, pretty hand Sheldon. She abruptly opened them.

Penny wasn't a little school girl anymore. She knew nothing would come of it and buried it. Penny decided it was time to just kill it off.

"So, you and Sheldon. You guys a thing there in the future?" Penny spat out the question.

"Ew! No! Ew! Ew ew ew ew ew! That's just gross! Yuck! Ew! You're disgusting! And I told you, I have a boyfriend. A very nerdy, sexy boyfriend. I love him. He isn't as smart as me, but then who is?"

"Why is that gross?" Penny asked, slightly insulted. "Any gal would be lucky to have Sheldon all to herself! Mmmmm, that would be lovely. If I had Sheldon all to myself I would chain him to my bed and never let him leave! Although, I would have to put some whiteboards in there to keep him occupied when he got bored."

Marie groaned. "I am **so** not having this conversation with you! I do not need to imagine that. At all. Oh, now I think I'm gonna puke!" Penny giggled.

"That's just the wine." She explained. "I love to imagine it. Do all the time actually. Do you know my favorite night is Halo night, just because I get to see him work the controller? I wonder what else he could work?"

"Stop it! I really don't need visuals!" For some reason, Marie thought that this was hilarious.

"Well why not?" Penny asked, chuckling.

"Well, would **you** want those visuals of **your** dad?" At Penny's sudden silence Marie added. "I thought not! Next topic! On second thought," Marie tried to roll over and get up. "I do think that I should vomit first"


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Now that all of you have given yourselves a hearty pat on the back for guessing the correct parent, on with the show!**

"That's just the wine." She explained. "I love to imagine it. Do all the time actually. Do you know my favorite night is Halo night, just because I get to see him work the controller. I wonder what else he could work?"

"Stop it! I really don't need visuals!" For some reason, Marie thought that this was hilarious.

"Well why not?" Penny asked, chuckling.

"Well, would **you **want those visuals of **your **dad?" At Penny's sudden silence Marie added. "I thought not! Next topic! On second thought," Marie tried to roll over and get up. "I do think that I should vomit first"

Sheldon paused, fist held at the ready to do his signature knock when he heard the conversation through the door. His body starting twitching as he ran through every scenario that he could to explain away the feelings that washed through his body when he heard those words. He slowly lowered his fist, prepared to walk back to his apartment and pretend that none of this ever happened when something switched in his head and he opened Penny's apartment door.

A wave of nausea hit him when he heard someone in the bathroom expelling copious amounts of alcohol. Sheldon fought past it as his gaze settled on Penny. She looked shell-shocked. Almost by instinct, Penny turned and looked at him.

"You're a dad." She told him, her buzz still ringing in her head.

"You have no proof of that." The answer was automatic. Penny rolled her eyes.

"You want proof? Let's see. She obviously can't handle her liquor, she thinks she is egotistical, self-righteous, and loves to correct people. She makes jokes no one understands but her. She is also tall, and has shiny, full hair. Her smiles brightens up the room. How can she not be your kid?"

"You sound upset." Sheldon stated it as fact.

Penny gave a defeated sigh. "You got it in one."

"Oh. Good for me." Sheldon said in a self-congratulatory tone. "Now, to business. There is still no proof that she is indeed my prodigy. This will be easy enough to disprove with a simple DNA test. I believe the term out on the streets is the 'baby daddy' test." Penny gave a small laugh. "Furthermore, once it is proven that I am not the biological father it will be very easy to discredit her other claims." Sheldon looked very proud of himself.

Marie woke up to a pounding in her head that was so loud it seemed to be coming from outside of herself. She opened her eyes long enough to see Penny shuffle to the front door.

"Hello Penny. Is the lying liar of lies and falsehoods awake?" Sheldon asked in a chipper voice. Penny just shook her head and stepped aside to let him in.

Marie sat up as he entered. "Lying liar of lies and falsehoods? What are you going on about Dr. Cooper?"

Sheldon sat down next to her with a small envelope in his hands. "This is the result of a DNA test that I had done early this morning."

"Sheldon, how did you get one done so fast?" Penny asked him. "It hasn't even been 24 hours yet. Don't those things take time?"

He shook his head at her. "Penny, Penny, Penny. Never underestimate the power of the determined mind, especially this determined mind. I thought that we could all be together to open it and prove this urchin wrong."

"How did you even get a sample of my DNA?" Marie asked him.

"After you passed out in Penny's bathroom, she had me help you to the couch. I cut off some of your hair."

"Wait, you cut my hair! Why would you do that without telling me?"

"I was just making sure that there was no way you could contaminate the results." He informed her.

"Here's my next question, and maybe I should have led with this one, why do you need a sample of my DNA?"

"Oh don't you recall?" Sheldon asked in mock surprise. "After an ill-advised night of drunken debauchery, you claimed that I to quote Star Wars, was your father. Come, sit. I hear it's best to hear bad news when one is sitting." Once everyone was settled, Sheldon opened up the envelope. His face went slack and his skin rapidly paled. "Penny?"

"Yes sweetie?"

"I require a hot beverage." He looked up from the paper to Penny's clear eyes. "Apparently you were right. I am a dad."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Yes, yes he is her boyfriend. Yes, I did it just to torture Sheldon. An odd transition chapter, but if you look really close you will see a bit of Shenny.**

"I can't believe that someone that attractive came from Sheldon." Leonard announced to the table. "Let alone the fact that he knows, will know, how to reproduce."

"I can't believe that Sheldon actually has genitals. I thought that it was all Ken doll down there. You know, all smooth?" Howard added.

"I can't believe that Sheldon found a female that he is willing to touch. We all know how he feels about germs and messes. That's pretty much the messiest thing that you can do with someone else." Raj stated.

"I can't believe that you three are so obsessed with my father's love life. Honestly, it's not like any of you were there so what does it have to do with you?" Marie said from behind her hands at the Cheesecake Factory. Maybe if she wished really hard she could be some place else. A place where her father's sexual abilities were not the main topic of conversation.

"I can't believe that I willingly share credit with Wolowitz." Sheldon added. "He doesn't even have a doctorate and yet at some point in time I will find him qualified enough to help me. Fascinating."

"What's really fascinating is that I will work with you and not harpoon you in the chest." Howard told him. Sheldon was thinking of a suitable come back when Penny came over with their food.

"Here you all are." She said in an even monotone. "Let me know if you need anything else." Without joking, without mocking how everything must be just right for Sheldon, without a smile, Penny left.

"What's wrong with her?"

"Maybe she's just tired. She said that she's been working a lot lately. She hasn't been around the apartment in a couple of days or so." Leonard offered.

Sheldon finished arranging his burger to his satisfaction when he spoke up. "And I'll have you know that I could have any female that I desired. I have a pleasing and fully functioning body."

"Just kill me now." Marie muttered to herself. "Can we please change the subject to something that will help me actually keep my food down?" She said louder. "Where are we in relation to the Tardis? Wonderland has been fun, but I'd like to go back through the rabbit hole now."

"Right now there is very little to report. My equations have proved correct in every sense of the word. Naturally, the problem resides in Howard's part of our collaboration."

Howard gave him a small glare before continuing. "Some of the components I just can't figure out. It's too advanced. However, I did notice that some wires were burnt out near the control panel. I replaced those, but it still won't work." He gave a defeated sigh. "I just can't figure it out."

"You will. I know that you will. You may not have designed it all by yourself, but you were there every step of the way."

"Wait, wait." Leonard interrupted. "I thought you said that it was called the Cooper – Wolowitz experiment."

"Oh, it is." Marie said. "Just not the Wolowitz you are thinking of." Seeing Howard's face she tried to soften the blow. "You **are** a major player Howard. You were there for the first test all the way up to me. Technically you were the senior engineer involved."

"Well, who else helped me? Maybe I can find them?" Howard asked her.

"I don't think that's possible. He hasn't been born yet." A pregnant pause filled the air. "It's your son..." She paused and gave an evil smile to Sheldon. "and my boyfriend." Sheldon's burger fell out of his hands and hit the floor.

"You are dating a Wolowitz? You are dating an engineer!" Sheldon practically shrieked.

Marie just gave him a smug smile. "Yeppa."

"Yeppa is not a word, kindly refrain from saying it." Sheldon automatically corrected. "And you will not be dating anyone with less than one doctorate and the last name of Wolowitz."

Marie gave him a glare. "And what makes you think you can stop me?"

"Apparently I am your father. Therefore I have control over your decisions. You will do as I say." Penny overheard him say as she was headed to the table to give them their bill.

Penny laughed at him. "Oh sweetie, you have no idea what you just did to yourself." At Sheldon's blank stare she continued. "Never tell a girl who to date, she will marry him just to spite you. Here's your bill."

Sheldon stared at her as she walked away. He did like the way her hips moved. "That is the longest Penny has talked to us in two days, five hours, and thirty four minutes."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Pretty long chapter for me. Long story short my dad had a stroke today and while I was waiting for him to get done with all of his tests this went in my head.**

Sheldon laid in bed,, unable to start his REM cycle. At first he had assumed that the disruption was due to the fact that he had apparently acquired a child at some point. However, the thought of molding a young mind didn't bother him. The relationship that would eventually result in said child was what was giving him anxiety. The more he thought about that, the more he disregarded that hypothesis.

The problem was Penny. She was acting oddly, even for her. She claimed that she was working a lot but Sheldon distinctly heard her television on at times she was supposed to be at work. On the rare occasion he passed her on the stairs, she kept her head down and hurried away from him. She didn't come over for Halo night, or even pizza night. He needed to talk to a Penny expert, someone who could explain this new behavior. Leonard was the only male in his social group that equated to a Penny expert, but for some reason the thought of having that personal of a conversation with him was repellent. He should talk to Penny. He wanted to talk to Penny. But for some reason he didn't think she wanted to talk to him.

"Oh this is nonsense. I want to talk to Penny, I will talk to Penny." Sheldon announced to the room. He got out of bed, sliding into his conveniently placed slippers, put on his robe, and left his room quietly, shutting the door behind him. He tip-toed past Marie sleeping on the couch and left the apartment.

_Knock knock knock_

"Penny"

_Knock knock knock_

"Penny"

_Knock knock knock_

"Penny"

A slightly drunk Penny opened the door. "What up Sheldor?" She opened the door to let him in. She watched as he opened and closed his mouth several times. "Sheldon, what do you want?"

He sat down on the couch. "I do not know what I want. I am feeling confused and anxious. I also believe I feel hurt."

She sat down beside him. "Why do you feel that way? I don't like it when you're hurt Moonpie."

Sheldon gave her a well-deserved glare for daring to use the word Moonpie before continuing. "At first, I thought that it was due to the nature that I must eventually be in an intimate relationship in order to procure a child. But no matter how I tried to focus on that particular problem you kept coming to mind. You are avoiding me. I wish to know why."

"I'm not avoiding you." Penny stammered out.

"Oh I beg to differ. You have not come over to our apartment in two days, 10 hours, and 43 minutes. You have not even come by to steal my milk or attempt to engage me in very uninformative reality shows about housewives in Miami. Why?"

Penny got up and headed towards her kitchen. "I need a drink. Do you need a drink? Maybe a Jack and coke?" Sheldon got up and followed her. She had managed to grab the whiskey before he grabbed her arm and turned her around.

"What did I do wrong?" He whispered. Penny couldn't take her eyes off of the hand that voluntarily touched her. "I can't fix the problem if you fail to inform me of it."

Penny took a shot right of the bottle to gather her courage before answering him. "There is no problem. You didn't do anything wrong. You're perfect ok? Somehow I'm the problem."

Sheldon shook his head. "You are definitely not a problem, not since I worked you into our group with great success."

"I am the problem Sheldon! I'm messed up in the head! I'm stupid. I'm a stupid, vapid, stupid girl wrapped up in a pretty package so that no one will notice!"

Sheldon had to fight the urge to bolt out of the apartment. He didn't like confrontation. He didn't like Penny thinking this way more. "You are by no means the most intelligent woman that I have ever met. You are also not the least intelligent. Leslie Winkle is. You are wrapped up in a pretty package, but in spite of that I have come to appreciate you. You always know what to say. For example, if our situations were reversed you would know exactly what to say to make me feel better." She gave him a watery smile.

"Thanks." She moved to sit back down before the world started spinning to fast.

"May I ask why you are drinking? You usually only drink to celebrate something or to forget your troubles for the night." Penny was drunk just enough to answer him honestly.

"I drink to forget you ok? I'm drinking to forget that I'm not smart enough for you, that you don't like human contact, that I am stupid enough to fall for the one guy in the world who doesn't want to fuck me."

Sheldon stared at her for a moment, gathering his thoughts before he spoke. "If you would have listened to me earlier you would have heard me say that you are not stupid. If you continue to talk about yourself like that I will leave. I never said I don't like human contact, I just don't like germs. I highly doubt that you are sick with anything other than your own inebriation at this point in time. And what makes you think that I don't want to have coitus with you?" Sheldon sat next to her and pulled her in for a hug. Penny stiffened up before hugging him back.

"Leonard thinks I'm stupid." She said, refusing to let the subject drop. "Whenever we fought when we were going out, he'd say I was too stupid to understand him."

For the first time in his life Sheldon was working on pure instinct. He tilted her head up. Whispering he said "Then Leonard is by far the dumbest man I know and has officially made the list." Then he dropped his head down and kissed Penny.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Thanks for the concern you guys. My dad is back at home and was told to stay calm. Yeah, that's gonna happen. Anyway, I hope** **that you enjoy. Once again, no Beta. That means that just like Marie, all mistakes belong to me. ****Oh, and yes... I DO tell my husband that I want kissy's when I'm drunk too!**

Shock. Penny was in absolute shock. Then her brain snapped back online and then oh my god! It's so much better when both people are actively kissing each other. And holy shit is it hot when you can make Dr. Sheldon Cooper murmur your name and tilt you head for better access to your mouth. Penny reached out to touch his chest, and that seemed to snap him out of it.

Instantly his emotions were back in check. "I apologize for violating you Penny. It was not my intention to take advantage of your drunken state."

"You kissed me." Penny stated.

"Yes. I did. I already apologized for it."

Penny giggled. "I liked it. Do it again?"

"Penny, I shouldn't have done that in the first place." She pouted.

"I want a kissy. I want you to give me a kissy. Please?" Sheldon sighed and gave her a slight kiss on the forehead. "No!" Penny almost sounded child-like. "That's not where I want my kissy. I want a kissy on the lips. A **real** kissy." She nodded to herself, convinced that she was making perfect sense.

Raising and eyebrow, Sheldon responded. "Alright." And he gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"A real kissy Sheldon." She closed her eyes and waited. When nothing happened she added in a sing-song voice, "I've got all night Sheldon."

Sheldon tilted her head up to give him the proper angle and kissed her. When he felt her instantly respond back, he opened his mouth slightly. The second she mimicked him he flitted her lips with his tongue. After hearing her give a slight moan, Sheldon slipped his tongue in her mouth. A quick battle for dominance ensued, one which Penny quickly lost. It felt too good to let Sheldon explore her mouth. It felt too good to feel him push her back onto the couch and have his chest press against hers.

She moaned her disappointment when he pulled himself back.

"Penny. Penny, you need to listen to me. You are inebriated, therefore your synapses are being misfired in your brain."

"Wait, what?"

"Alot of liquor equals bad judgment. I cannot tolerate being another bad judgment call." He informed her. "Tomorrow, after you have sobered and I get off of work, we will talk. Is that alright?"

"Can I have another kissy?" Sheldon just shook his head.

"I can't stop myself again. I have enough problems controlling myself. We will talk tomorrow. Go to bed Penny." He let himself out, making sure to lock the door behind him. Once in the hallway, he whispered, "I do feel an emotional attachment to you."

Penny woke up the next morning with a headache. Still laying in bed with her eyes shut, she did a quick mental inventory of symptoms. Dry mouth, upset stomach, achy joints, and the headache that woke her up. Definitely a hangover. She was very glad she was off today, stupid customers and being on her feet all day would only make matters worse. She slowly got out of bed to find aspirin and a hot shower. After that she would find some of the worst fried fast food possible and she would be good as new.

Once she was dressed she wondered into 4A, looking for fried food. There she found Marie, looking through Leonard's desk.

Marie looked up, startled. "Oh! Hi Penny! What are you doing here?"

"Looking for food. What are you doing in Leonard's desk?"

"Oh, good. I'm hungry too." Marie said quickly trying to change the subject.

"Marie. What were you doing in his desk?"

"Just looking for notes." Was the innocent reply.

"About that Tardis thingy?" Marie just nodded. Penny didn't believe her, but was willing to look past it in exchange for food. "Is there anything fried in this place?"

Marie shook her head. "No. But, if you want I can make my Meemaw's fried chicken." She offered.

Once the aroma of fried chicken was wafting through the apartment and Penny had already had one plate-full of food, she asked the one question that was on her mind since everyone found out who Marie really was. "Marie, who is your mother? Who winds up with Sheldon?"

Marie just shook her head. "Dad doesn't want me telling him or anyone. He says the less you guys know about the future the less chance you guys will mess with it." She cocked her head to the side. "Well, that's basically what he said. This version of my dad tends to use a lot of big words completely unnecessarily."

"Oh." Penny was disappointed. "Well, can you tell me about her?" Marie gave her what Penny now called the 'genius stare' before nodding.

"That can't hurt. And did doesn't break the promise that was extracted from me because all he said was not to use names. He didn't say anything about personality traits." Penny nodded encouragingly.

"So, tell me about her."

"Dad always said that she was by and far the most aesthetically pleasing woman he had ever seen. That her brain baffled even him sometimes. She was smart, he always goes on and on about how smart she was. How she could be smarter than him. She has an outlook on life like he had never seen. He said that is was love at first sight for him, but that she hated him for a long time." Marie got a far away look on her face.

"But that's everything that Sheldon thinks. What do you think about her?"

"Honestly, I try not to. She died when I was five. My siblings were 3."

"So you don't remember her at all?' For some reason Penny didn't like this idea at all.

"I have an eidetic memory just like dad does. I remember her. But they are the memories of childhood." This time Marie continued without prompting. "But she was pretty. And smart. She was always busy with work, but she always had time for us kids. She was the only person I've ever seen win a fight with my dad. She told me constantly that I could be whatever and whoever I wanted to be, and that she'd love me no matter what."

"Did Sheldon ever get re-married?" Penny was curious.

"Well, at one point he tried to re-connect with someone from his past, but it didn't work. She didn't challenge him at all."

"How did you mom pass?" Penny's morbid curiosity wanted to know.

"Car accident." Marie's eyes closed as if re-living the moment. "My parents had a fight, a bad one. Mom was mad that dad wouldn't do something, but I couldn't make out what. Mom shouted that she was going to go to a hotel until he saw reason. She ran upstairs, grabbed us kids, and headed out. She was so angry that she ran a red light. A car ran right into the driver's side door. The last thing she said to me was 'be a good girl. I love you.' I can still see the blood." Instantly Marie opened her eyes and glanced at Penny. "If you don't mind, I think I want to be alone now."

Penny just nodded. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked that."

"I didn't have to answer you. Dad doesn't like to talk about her. I haven't ever said that before. Thank you." Penny leaned over and gave her a hug.

"I'm sorry sweetie. I'll see you later. Halo night right?" With that, Penny quietly left 4A.


	12. Chapter 12

Halo night, in Sheldon's opinion at least, was an unmitigated disaster.

_Do you know my favorite night is Halo night, just because I get to see him work the controller? I wonder what else he could work?"_The words Penny had spoken days earlier were ringing in his head the entire time. This made playing effectively impossible. He kept trying to steal glances over at Penny, to see if she really was watching him.

Penny wasn't watching Sheldon's hands, for once. She was watching Sheldon try to subtly watch her. He wasn't very good at it.

Leonard, Howard, and Raj and no idea what was going on. All they knew was that for once they weren't being annihilated by the deadly duo. Howard and Raj actually won one round.

Marie was choosing to ignore everyone and everything. She was sitting at the kitchen island reading Sheldon's _Flash_ comics, with two sets of gloves on for the comics protection per her own insistence.

When Raj blew up Sheldon's character for the third time in a row, Sheldon called game over.

"Obviously Penny is failing to pay proper attention, as usual. I thought that shooting people for fun was something corn-huskers taught from the womb Penny."

"Penny's trying her best Sheldon. Maybe she just had a long day." Leonard tried to rationalize.

"Don't defend me Leonard." Penny snapped at him. "Maybe if **you** weren't staring at **me** and instead focused on the screen, we would be winning."

Sheldon, who was putting up the game, abruptly turned. "Excuse me?" Drat. He had been so subtle. It wasn't like Penny to pick up on subtle.

"You heard me." She was practically daring him to start a fight. Sheldon took a very deep breath as if to fight her allegations, but just sighed instead.

"I'm going to bed. Good night." In the awkward silence that followed his departure, Marie closed the comic she was reading and placed it in the correct order with the others on the table. She was done in just enough time hear Sheldon say, "Comics please." She just rolled her eyes and handed them over without complaint. Once she heard Sheldon's door shut, Marie went and sat down on his spot and seemed to take great delight in it.

"So," She whispered to Penny while Howard and Raj were getting ready to leave, "I'm guessing that he heard our drunken conversation?"

"Seems so." Penny whispered back just as quietly.

"What are you going to do?" Penny knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to kiss him again. She wanted to make sure that last night wasn't a fluke and Sheldon really could kiss like that.

Instead she just said, "I'm going to go to bed, that's what I'm going to do."

She tried to go to bed, she really did. Penny showered and got into her most comfortable pajamas's. Ones that weren't even remotely sexy and had holes in them because she kept them long after they reached their expiration date. Penny grabbed a bottle of water and headed to her room, intent on getting a sober night's sleep.

Three hours later she was sitting on her couch, watching Star Trek of all things. What was really said was that she knew which episode it was. She was contemplating how sad her life had truly gotten when her phone went off.

_Are you sober enough to have an intelligent conversation about the details of last night?_

Penny stared at the text message for a good five minutes before answering. _Yeah, I am. Wanna come over?_ Her answer came a couple minutes later.

_Knock knock knock_

Penny

_Knock knock knock_

Penny

_Knock knock knock_

Penny.

"It's open." She called to the general direction of the door.

"How did you know it was me?" Sheldon asked as he shyly entered her apartment. "I could have very well been out to steal your possessions." Penny could see his eyes flit around the room. "Although, it appears that you have already been robbed."

"Sheldon, what do you want?"

"I want you to keep your apartment clean. I also want you out of my spot so that I can sit down." Penny glared at him from her chair.

"This is my apartment. I will sit wherever I damn well please." Wisely, Sheldon let that argument stop before it even started.

"Very well." He sat down at the end of the smallest couch in the universe. "I have come to discuss the events of last night."

"Okie doke." Penny took a deep breath, "Shoot."

"Okie doke? Another insult to the Nebraskan educational system."

"Sheldon!" Looking as chastised at Sheldon cane look, he continued.

"My apologies. I did not come over here to correct you." Not today at least. "You were inebriated last night. I understand that memory loss is a side effect of consuming too much alcohol. Do you remember the night in question?"

"You kissed me."

"You asked me to."

Penny corrected him. "Not the first time. Technically that could be considered sexual assault."

Sheldon panicked. "Penny, I didn't mean to..."

Penny cut him off before he hyperventilated. "Joke sweetie. Just a joke to try and lighten the mood. I'm sorry."

"That wasn't funny." Sheldon stated with absolute authority before going back to the topic at hand. "At any rate, we kissed. At the time of our kiss, did your heart rate rise unexpectedly? Did your pupils dilate? Did your skin flush with an unexplainable heat?"

"Slow it down Sheldon." Penny said, trying not to get aggravated with him.

"Did your body experience the systems of arousal?"

Ah, light-bulb moment. "You're asking me if I liked it." Sheldon gave an exasperated nod. Before he could open his mouth she answered. "Yeah. I liked it. Did you?"

Another nod. "I believe that my body experienced the same symptoms. Although, I knew that it would, you see when a female shows a willingness to procreate..." Penny cut him off.

"No. No science, not right now. Your heart has to do the talking right now."

"Penny, hearts cannot talk."

"You are deliberately not understanding me." Her voice dropped from anger to pleading. "Talk to me."

"I liked it." Sheldon whispered. "I liked it a lot. I liked it far more than a man of science should. I liked it far more than the supposed best friend of Leonard should."

"Sweetie, what does Leonard have to do with this? We haven't been together for years. He's dating Pyira. He has no say in what I do anymore."

Sheldon dropped his gaze to the floor. "He still harbors feelings for you, how could he not? I have come to understand that the so-called 'bro code' prohibits me from forming an emotional attachment to someone that Leonard desires. However, due to some revelations that you presented to me, I strongly suggest that you do **not** form another relationship with him." Sheldon raised his eyes to look at her. "You do not deserve to be called stupid. That is not a valid argument in a verbal disagreement. It's true you're not as smart as I am, but then who is?"

"Wait. Last night you said that you have problems controlling yourself. Is that right?" At Sheldon's embarrassed nod she continued. "Is that because of the 'bro code'?" Her mind was still reeling that Sheldon Cooper of all people didn't think she was stupid.

"I am given to understand that if one of your male companions expresses an interest in a female, you are to back off and let them have the relationship instead of you."

Penny leaned back into her seat. "I really don't know what to say to that, other than bullshit."

"Penny, please refrain from profanity."

"My apartment, my rules." Once again, Sheldon wisely kept his mouth shut. Penny was proud of him.

Another awkward silence. Funny how that kept happening with Sheldon.

"Sheldon I -"

"Penny I -" Penny laughed.

"You first Sheldon."

"Thank you. I propose that we re-boot our relationship. We will re-start it at the point in time where both of us agree it works."

"So you want to pretend like this didn't happen?" Sheldon nodded. Penny shook her head. "No. You don't get to pretend like this didn't happen."

"Why not?"

"Because it did happen Sheldon! And I liked it and you liked it, so what's the problem?!"

"Because it won't last!" Oh god, she broke Sheldon. "Things like this** never** last! At least not with me! Girls don't find me attractive, they find me convenient for doing their homework because they're failing earth science and pretend to like me long enough to get a good grade! Or they pretend to like me long enough to get me to put their name on my paper. People don't like me. Once people figure out what I'm really like, once you actually **see** me, you won't want me anymore. You're perfect. You have a brain that for some reason you rarely use, you have compassion, you always see the bright side in life. To top it all off you are good at video games! Why would you want me? No other female ever seems to." Holy crap on a cracker, she really did break him.

**A/N: Ok, so this chapter and the next one kinda got away from me. I knew where I wanted to go at each chapter, but how to get there was the question. So, here's hoping I didn't screw it up to much. As for Sheldon's break down, or semi-break down this is how I see it: egomaniacs are usually quite insecure. They always have to say how smart and awesome they are to make themselves feel better.**


	13. Chapter 13

"Sheldon." Penny said as gently as she could. "Sheldon, sweetie, stop." At the end of his rant he tried to make a run for it. Not on Penny's watch. "Come sit down." Slowly but surely, Sheldon turned and sat back down on the couch. He refused to look at her. She sat down next to him on the couch and forced his head up. Her heart broke at the expression on his face. "I want you to listen to me and listen good. I have seen the real you. You are so OCD I can barely stand it. You can't stand being wrong. You are a sore loser. You can't dress well. And if one thing is out of your control you have a panic attack." Sheldon tore his head away from her, but she turned it right back to her. "You are also caring when you see the need, you'd give or do anything for someone that you truly care about, you listen to me even if you think that it's all nonsense." Penny kissed his forehead, amazed that such a little touch could have such a big impact on her body.

Sheldon looked confused. "You didn't say smart." Penny laughed at him.

"You never said pretty when you were talking about me."

"Penny, Penny, Penny. Do you really need me to tell you that you are pretty?"

"Do you really need me to tell you that you're smart?" Penny countered.

"It would be nice to hear." He said in a small voice.

She sighed. "Sheldon, you are the smartest man I know."

"You are the most aesthetically pleasing woman I have ever seen."

"Sheldon?"

"Yes Penny?" She answered him by climbing onto his lap and kissing him. "Penny." Sheldon gasped, shocked at her behavior.

"Yes Sheldon?" She said in between kisses.

"Are you sure this is the right thing to do given the social constructs?" Penny gave up on his mouth. It was useless right now. Instead she moved to lightly suck on his neck. "Oh good lord, Penny!"

She raised her head to look at Sheldon. His hair wasn't messed up sadly, but his eyes were bright. His hands were reflexively squeezing Penny's hips. "Do you want me to stop? You say the word and I will stop." She slightly rolled her hips against him.

Sheldon pulled her closer. "No, I don't want you to stop." Penny smiled at him.

"Then this is definitely the right thing to do given the social constructs." She informed him. He gave her a real smile before attacking her neck. "Oh, god!" Penny grabbed him behind the neck and made sure his lips weren't going anywhere. The other hand migrated from Sheldon's shoulder to his hair and gave it a slight tug.

Sheldon made a sound she had never heard before, then the world was moving as he maneuvered her to lay down on the couch. He then immediately claimed her mouth as his again. This time, she wasn't going to give in so easily. She teased her way into his mouth, savoring every moan that managed to fight its way out of his throat. Abruptly, Sheldon teased his way back down to her neck. He managed to find one particular spot that forced her to make the most wonderful sound he had ever heard.

"Penny?"

"Oh god, yes Sheldon?" He stopped and looked at her.

"Is this leading to coitus?" Penny slightly sat up and took in his appearance. He was panting, and his hair was sticking up in every direction. His eyes looked intense, but she could see a spark of fear in them.

"Not unless you want it to. Do you want it to?"

"No." At Penny's sad look he continued, "At least not tonight. Is that all right?"

A little more than slightly disappointed Penny responded, "It's ok, we can just go slow. Just not iceberg slow ok? We have to find a rhythm that both of us are ok with."

Sheldon nodded and un-tangled himself from her. "Good night Penny."

"Night Sheldon."

Once Sheldon entered his apartment, he saw Marie waiting up for him.

"I would like to ask you a question." At his nod she said, "You don't want anyone to know the future, yet right before you made that particular rule, you asked if a certain person was my mother or not. When I responded, you quite quickly informed me not to tell anyone anything about the future because foreknowledge is a dangerous thing."

"This is not a question Marie. That is a statement of facts."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm well aware. That was the background to my question. This is my question: Can I call her mom yet?"


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N is at bottom this time.**

Penny wasn't on cloud nine most of the time. How could she be? Sheldon was her boyfriend, for a whole two weeks. Not that he wasn't trying to be a good boyfriend, he was. He rarely spoke down to her anymore although he still enjoyed correcting her. He complimented her decisions instead of her appearance, and he went to bed at 10:00 on weeknights. She could live with all of that. Penny would even dare to say that she enjoyed it most of the time. What was always in the back of her head was what Leonard had deemed 'the situation'. She called it proof Sheldon was human. That proof was sitting in the oversized white chair eating Chinese food just as meticulously as her father.

Penny couldn't help it, she started looking for traits of herself in Marie. Tall, skinny, way to smart, a slightly obsessive love of comics and science fiction. That was all Sheldon. But, if Penny squinted hard enough, she could see parts of herself. No ability to sing whatsoever, kind until it was no longer an option, and easily puts others in their places. Maybe? Penny couldn't tell yet.

Sheldon broke her out of her thoughts with the biggest yawn she had ever seen. "Tired sweetie?" She asked with a smirk on her face. While they haven't gotten to sex yet, there were some heavy make out sessions that made her apologize to every high school boyfriend that she had ever had. Teasing was no fun the other way around.

"Slightly yes. But, I do believe that I have made some excellent progress." Penny blushed while Marie looked like she was going to be sick at any given moment.

"So what are you doing at night Sheldon?" Leonard asked. "I thought that you might be stuck on another problem, but you haven't been acting any crazier than normal."

"No."

"No what?"

"No, I'm not stuck on a problem. At least not anymore."

Leonard gave a small smile. "Well, that's good. What was the problem?"

"About whether or not to change my social paradigm with Penny." Sheldon replied. Penny's scared eyes met Marie's startled ones. "I had been considering it for quite some time, and had decided to let things fall where they may, so to speak. However recent events have been disclosed to me and I have been forced to accept what I have been trying to deny for quite some time."

"Did you guys get into another fight then? If so it was a quiet one. I haven't seen any undergarments hanging from a telephone wire." Was Leonard's response.

"Why would I do that to Penny? That hardly seems appropriate in a romantic relationship. Perhaps this is why your relationships don't last much longer than an episode of Dr. Who."

Leonard's face went blank. "Are you telling me that you are in a relationship with Penny? A romantic one?" At Sheldon's nod he continued, "How is that even possible?! You don't have a deal. And there is no way that your deal is Penny!"

"I resent the fact that you think I do not have a deal, as you say. Just because I chose not to indulge in the more carnal aspects of life doesn't mean that I did not have the desire. I just didn't see the need until now. As for why Penny, I ask instead why not Penny? Is is compassionate to a fault, she is trying to listen when I have something to say, she sings me Soft Kitty when I'm ill, and she defends me against what she perceives as a threat" Sheldon answered. Then, almost as an after thought he added, "And she is quite attractive."

"But Penny Sheldon?"

"What's wrong with Penny? You didn't have any problems with Penny when you were dating her." Asked Sheldon.

At this point Penny realized she was apparently struck mute. Every time she was going to comment, Sheldon answered instead. She realized he was defending her in his own way. If she had any doubts that she loved him, it went away with that epiphany.

Leonard was looking at Sheldon as if he was waiting for a bazinga. When none was offered, he seemed to get mad."Look at your daughter Sheldon!" Leonard pointed at Marie, who looked like a cross between a deer caught in the headlights and a warrior thirsting for blood. "Do you **really** think that she is Penny's daughter?"

This caught Marie's attention. "What on earth is that supposed to mean?" At this point, Penny didn't know if she should be offended, insulted, pissed, or all three.

"Your just as pretty as Penny, but everything else is Sheldon. The comics, the cleaning, the condensation, the brains, the -"

Sheldon interrupted him, "What are you implying exactly?" His tone was completely robotic.

"I'll tell you what he's implying Sheldon," Penny said. Her voice was as tense as Sheldon's was devoid of emotion. "He thinks I'm to stupid to have a kid like Marie. A smart kid. A kid who could knows about physics. A kid who understands things more complicated than the Cheesecake Factory's menu. Is that about right?"

"I –I – I just meant" Sheldon interrupted him.

"Penny is not stupid."

"I know that Sheldon." Leonard said in a patronizing drawl.

"Apparently you do not. Penny informed me earlier that you believe she is stupid and vapid. Those are synonyms by the way. You could have at least used more unique adjectives. Her beauty is a desirable feature, this much is correct, however it only enhances her inward appeal. Something that you seem to disregard out of hand because it fails to hold your very limited interest."

"She isn't as smart as us, admit it." Leonard was no longer in control of what came out of his mouth. Now it came down to what it always came down to in Leonard's mind, proving Sheldon wrong.

Sheldon abruptly stood. "You aren't as smart as me, admit that." With that, Sheldon grabbed Penny's arm and stormed out.

Marie got up to join them. "Piece of advice Leonard, never insult something that my dad considers important. And Penny is definitely important to him."

**A/N: Ok, so this chapter might not make as much sense as the other ones'. I didn't want the relationship to be a secret because that is done a lot. I also want Leonard to start to turn into the bad guy. Pretty much a transition chapter because it is getting me where I want to go.**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N:** **On a completely unrelated note to my story, I am trying to find a story here on FF and I need your help. It's a Shenny, (of course). All I can really remember is that they are in the boy's apartment together and have twins that are wonderfully advanced. Mrs. Vartabetean babysits them occasionally. That and Penny gets into a kitchen accident and glass gets pushed into her and Howard is there when it happens. I really liked that story, but for the life of me can't find it. Any ideas?**

"Well, that was awkward...and tense...and uncomfortable...and just no fun at all." Marie commented as she grabbed bottles of water from the fridge.

"I agree. Although, now that the adrenaline from an uncomfortable situation is leaving my system, I find myself shaking and weak. Interesting." Sheldon told her.

"Understandable. You have just left a fight or flight situation. You should also anticipate the sensation of being lightheaded in addiction to your other symptoms." Marie informed.

"Nothing I didn't already know. Thank you nonetheless. Did you know.." And that's where Penny stopped paying attention. Pretty soon the big words would come out and she would be completely lost.

Instead she replayed the fight in her head. It wasn't much of a fight in her opinion, Sheldon didn't even raise his voice. No one was punched, no one bled, and no one had to call the cops. God was she glad to be out of Nebraska. Her eye caught Sheldon rolling his head around and Marie trying not to laugh at him. Penny tuned in right in time to hear the ending.

"It's to big for my big Cornish head!" Penny giggled. She didn't know why that story was being told again, but it never failed to make her at least give a smile.

"You can tell me whatever story you want, I'm not sleeping on the floor."

"Sheldon, why are you trying to make her sleep on the floor?" Penny asked him.

"Because I highly doubt that both of you would be comfortable on your sofa. It is quite small. And being as I have no intention of returning to my apartment until Leonard has had a chance to calm down. I have no desire to have another altercation this evening." He informed her.

"Ok, I get that you don't want to go back there tonight. What I don't get is that you think I'm going to give up my bed to you and make your daughter sleep on the floor when the two of us can sleep on my bed." Penny stated.

"Penny, people can't sleep in my bed." What lovely condensation. Penny glared at him.

"Well then I guess it's a good thing that it's **my** bed then isn't it?"

"But Penny..."

"Sheldon! My bed, my rules."

Hours later Marie was passed out on the couch while Sheldon was trying to figure out how to sleep with another person in the bed. After about five or six minutes of his moaning and whining Penny groaned at him.

"Listen, just lay on your side for tonight. I'm tired."

"Oh! That makes sense. Thank you."

"Your welcome. Good night Sheldon."

"Good night Penny."

The silence didn't last long.

"Penny?"

"Yes Sheldon?" Came the steely answer.

"You do know that I don't think that you are stupid don't you?"

Penny rolled over to face him. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Where are you going with this sweetie?"

"It has occurred to me that I have insulted your intelligence approximately 312 times since I have met you. I would like to clarify those statements."

"Are you going to go over all 312 of them? Cause if you are, I don't wanna hear it."

"Of course not. I just want you to know that even though your intelligence isn't on par to mine, I still value your input. You tend to see the world in ways that I don't, and frankly don't care to. However, that doesn't mean that there isn't any validity in what you express."

"Ok..."

Sheldon tilted his head closer to her and lowered his voice. "I just don't want you function under the false assumption that I believe what Leonard does."

"Oh sweetie, I know that you don't think that." He gave Penny a disbelieving look. "Honestly, I don't. You don't think that anyone is as smart as you. I get it. And you do love correcting people. Leonard made me feel stupid just being in the same room as him. When we started dating, he couldn't wait to have me meet his colleagues, understand his work and stuff. But near the end he just wanted me to be his arm candy. We stopped talking and started drinking. He stopped telling me about his work, and never really bothered to ask me about mine. I don't really think I knew him as well as I thought I did. I don't even know his favorite color."

"You favorite color is blue, specifically colbolt blue." Sheldon offered shyly.

"Yours is red." Penny said smugly. Sheldon looked shocked.

"How on earth can you know that? I have never told you that."

It was Penny's turn to look shy. "The Flash. He's red."

"You are fascinating." Sheldon said with a smile. "That was very good cognitive reasoning. I expected nothing less from you. You are very adept at reading non-verbal nuances."

"Thank you sweetie."

Penny woke up very early. Earlier than Sheldon, which made her think that this must be an alternate universe where she's OCD and he's an actor who can't get a break. Wow. Way to much time around the guys. She was starting to think like them. Penny wondered out of the bedroom to get a drink and spotted Marie sitting up, watching tv.

"What are you doing up?"

"Can't sleep." Marie answered her. "I haven't been able to lately. I just keep thinking how the dad that I know wouldn't act the way that he is. The dad I know would have figured everything out and gotten me home by now. The dad I know wouldn't try to make you sleep on the couch, and would have done a lot more than just turn all monotone on Leonard."

Ok, enough is finally enough. "Marie, I am going to ask you a real question and I want a real answer. Am I your mom?" Marie, just stared at her. "Answer me!"

"Yes." Marie whispered.

Penny's legs suddenly decided to give out on her and she sat down. It was one thing to lust after your ex-boyfriend's roommate. It was one to accept that a person who popped out of nowhere was from the future. It was one thing to comprehend that said person was the daughter of the man you lust after. It was one thing to guess and hope that she was your daughter as well. It was quite another to have it confirmed.

"And you didn't tell me this because Sheldon didn't want you to tell us about the future, something about foreknowledge." Marie nodded. "Does Sheldon know?" Another nod. "When did he find out?"

"Five hours after his paternity test. He asked me if you were my biological mother. At the time I decided it would be prudent to tell him. I thought that the two of you were together." Marie explained. "Then his face went a little bit pale and he went to his room."

"So, I have a daughter." Penny whispered. Marie just nodded again. With a small shriek she grabbed Marie and pulled her into a hug. Abruptly she ended it. "Wait. You said that your mom dies when you are five." Marie closed her eyes against that memory. "I die? Oh god, I die when my kids are babies. Oh god, oh god." Penny was starting to hyperventilate when Sheldon walked in.

"What do you mean she dies?" The robot voice was back.

"Dad, I –"

"What did Penny mean when she said that she dies?" Ice blue eyes stared back at her. "Explain." He commanded.

"You and her get into a fight when I'm five." Marie whispered. "She got into a car accident."

Sheldon stood, slightly twitching. After a few moments he spoke. "This is easy to fix." He turned to Penny. "Our relationship is terminated. Therefore we will have no need to have a passionate fight, which means you won't get into a car accident trying to escape. I'm going to my apartment now. If we are no longer in an established relationship Leonard will have no need to try to assert his dominance." With that Sheldon walked jerkily to the door and left.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: BIG thank you to clint bolr for knowing which story I wanted with very little help from me! If you're wondering, it's called What's In A Name by Seraphim-Burning. **

Sheldon barely had time to close is bedroom door before Penny stormed through it.

"Penny! People can't be in my room! Please leave." Penny just stared at him, while he wondered why she was here. "Penny, I want to be alone right now so that I may reflect on and record recent events."

"No." That was all she was going to say? Just no?

"To paraphrase you, my bedroom my rules. Please leave."

"No."

"Penelope! Leave me alone!" He shouted, his normally controlled southern accent started to seep through.

Penny tried to hide the fact that hearing her full first name coming out of his mouth in that accent was doing things to her that she didn't know could happen without being touched. "Why?"

"Because I no longer wish to continue an intimate relationship with you. If you bothered to pay attention when I spoke you would already know that. However, since you insist on forcing me to repeat myself I will tell you for the third time: I no longer wish to continue in an intimate relationship with you, culminating in your Nebraskan temper overtaking your frontal lobes and resulting in your untimely death." The robot voice was back.

Penny tried to hide the anger and irritation of the Nebraska comment. She forced herself to speak softly. "No science talk, not right now. Your heart has to do the talking right now." As soon as Sheldon opened his mouth she spoke again, "And don't you dare deliberately misunderstand me. You're a genius and you know me. You **know** what I mean."

Sheldon sat down on the bed and hung his head. "I don't like talking with my heart, as you say. I dislike feelings, because feelings can hurt you more than physical pain ever could. Science can't hurt your feelings. Science doesn't use you to get ahead in life and then disregard you when it's done, but I digress. You are insisting on talking about feelings. I'm feeling scared. I don't want to be the cause of your demise however indirectly. I...care about you, greatly. I rather enjoyed being pair-bonded with you. I do not even worry about germ transfer with you for some unknown reason. If something were to happen to you I don't know what I would do. This is why we must terminate our new social paradigm." Penny sat down beside him and started rubbing his back.

"But what about Marie?"

"What about her?" Penny forced him to look at her.

"She's our daughter Sheldon. **Ours**. If you terminate our relationship or whatever you said, then she's never born. Can you really do that to her?"

Sheldon shot off the bed. "She doesn't matter!"

"Sheldon! Of course she matters!" Penny shrieked.

"Not as much as you!" He yelled back. "I have known her for one month! She may be my daughter according to DNA and her own personal history not she isn't right now! She is just a person who screwed up and landed where she shouldn't have!" Sheldon knelt down in front of her and forced her to look at him. "You are far more important than a theoretical daughter." He whispered to her. "If I can prevent all of this from happening, you can be safe."

"But we won't be together." She answered him. "We won't have children, we won't build a life together. We won't be happy." Penny thought of an idea. "And what's to say that I won't find someone else? I'm a patient person Sheldon, but I refuse to be hurting and alone just because you decided it for me. I'll find someone else and I'll be happy with him. Maybe even happier." She was deliberately pushing buttons that she knew would upset him. Everyone knew how possessive he was of things he considered his.

"I haven't thought of that." Of course he didn't. "Would you really do that?"

No, because no one will ever compare to you. You treat me like a person, not a shiny new toy. "Yes." Penny lied. "I don't want to be alone. I want to be with you. But if you remove that option, I'll have to find a different guy."

"But, you...you..."

"Everyone will die one day Sheldon. It's what we do with them while they are still around that matters. And I was us to matter. I want us to have a little girl who is smart and funny. Who can solve equations and have social skills. I want that life, for however long I can keep it." She made sure to keep her voice soft and honest. The louder you yelled, the faster Sheldon tuned you out.

Sheldon stared at her. "Do you mean that? All of it?" Penny nodded. "You really want to be with me?"

"Yes. I...I love you Sheldon. I have for a long time. I just thought that I was to stupid for -"

Sheldon stopped her with a kiss that Penny was fairly certain shorted out her brain.

"You. Are. Not. Stupid. Do you understand me?"

Penny gave him a smile. "Of course I do, I'm not stupid!" Sheldon laughed. A real laugh. A laugh that made him fall on the ground, taking Penny with him.

"I apologize. How stupid of me." He chuckled out.

"Yeah Sheldon, you're a real idiot." Penny rolled her eyes. She leaned up and meant to kiss his cheek but Sheldon turned his head in enough time to meet her lips with his own and moaned when she turned her head to get better access to his mouth. "Do you know that I love it when you moan? I think that it might be one of my favorite sounds in the world."

"Yeah?" Sheldon asked as he moved from her lips to her ear to her neck. "What else do you like? Tell me?" He whispered, practically begging.

"Oh!" She grabbed his shoulders when he hit a particularly wonderful spot. "Um...when you called me Penelope."

"Penelope." He whispered in her ear, delighting in her slight shiver. "Penelope." He said as he slipped off her shirt. "Penelope." She giggled when he flipped them over to lay on top of her. "My Penelope." He said as he stared into her eyes. "I love you." He said right before he stole her mouth for another kiss.

And that night, for the first time in Sheldon's life, his brain shut up and let his body do what it wanted.

When Sheldon woke up he did a mental inventory. He found that he slept unusually well, far better than normal. He was relaxed, and realized that there was a small smile on his face.

"Morning sweetie." He heard Penny murmur. "How'd you sleep?"

"Surprisingly well. I am unused to sharing a bed with another person. Still, I found the experience quite satisfying."

Penny gave a smirk. "Oh yes. Quite...satisfying. What time is it?" She turned to look at his alarm clock. "Oh shit! I'm late for work." She jumped out of bed. "Sorry sweetie, I've got to go." She gave him a quick kiss on the forehead, knowing that kissing him on the lips first thing in the morning would probably give him a panic attack. "Love you."

She ran out in time to see Leonard coming out of his room.

"You...you stayed her last night?"

"Yes Leonard, I did."

"Why?"

She rolled her eyes. "Because I slept with my boyfriend last night and he made me see deities that I thought didn't exist. I'm late for work. Any other questions?" Leonard shook his head. "Good. Bye. Tell Sheldon I'll be by after my shift." With that she left.

Leonard saw Sheldon going to the bathroom and stopped him. "You had sex? You? Mr. Don't-Touch-Me-I'm-Pretty-Sure-You-Are-Contagious had sex?"

"You act like I have never engaged in coitus before. I assure you, even though I didn't have the amount of partners that you have had, I possess reasonable knowledge and technique." He turned to the bathroom and added as an afterthought. "After all, you could never make her meet deities that don't exist."

Leonard just stared at the closing bathroom door before rapidly going over to Sheldon's desk and opening his laptop. He had approximately 30 to 31 minutes before Sheldon would be done with his morning hygiene ritual. "Sheldon took my favorite side of the couch, he took me to the North Pole and almost let me freeze to death, he made me eat bugs without me knowing. He always has to get his way. He even gets Penny. I'll be damned if he get this."


	17. Chapter 17

"Gentlemen, I try my best to stay out of your personal lives. I expect the same from you." Sheldon told the lunch table. What was the obsession with Penny and himself? While even Sheldon saw the irony of his newest relationship, he still didn't understand why it was all his friends wanted to talk about.

"I'm just trying to understand is all." Howard told him. "I just wanna know how someone **that** hot wants someone like you. You have to be amazing in the mind numbing act of coitus."

"Yeah dude. We thought that you were all Ken doll down there. I'm kinda proud of you." Raj said. This is why Raj would be out if Sheldon ever gained a fifth friend. Mentally he awarded Raj a strike for the insult. He would have to be informed via e-mail later.

"It's no big deal Sheldon. Everyone shares things about their relationships." Leonard told him before adding. "When **I **was dating Penny, I shared aspects of our relationship. I think that you might have benefited from that last night. You already knew things that she liked and didn't like." He added snidely.

Sheldon's face went blank. "You are horribly misinformed about the events of last night. While Penny and I did engage in coitus, you were far from the front of my mind. In the moment, I chose to concentrate on Penny, not you. How would your prior relationship with her affect us in any way to begin with?" Sheldon was actually curious. He wasn't used to this aspect of human interaction. He had no clue how to act around his friend, who also happened to be his girlfriend's bitter ex-boyfriend. What were the odds? He'd have to do the math later, he was sure it would be fascinating.

"Because I paved the way for you Sheldon! She even told me that she couldn't tolerate stupid people anymore because of me! That's why our **sexual** relationship affects you!" Leonard practically spat. It was like he was waiting to get those words out, begging for an opportunity for stating what everyone should know. Howard, Raj, and Sheldon just stared at him. "Why am I even telling you this? You are going to get bored with her soon enough. She doesn't know physics, she doesn't know anything about sci-fi or comic books, and she only plays video games to feel accepted by us. Then you two will break up and I'll have to pick up the pieces. Then Penny will be mine again!" At his friend's expressions he looked down at his food and muttered, "I saw her first anyway."

Sheldon finally spoke. "For a small man with an only slightly above average intelligence, you certainly have an abnormal amount of self-importance." With that he stood and left Leonard sulking.

Sheldon headed to his office with purpose. Leonard had actually managed to make him angry. Anger wasn't an emotion that he was used to dealing with. Anger was for the weak minded. It was for people who refused to let logic run their life. Anger was for troglodytes. Apparently, he was no better than lesser beings.

Once he had gotten to the safety of his office, he called Penny without really thinking about it.

"Hello?"

"Good afternoon Penny." At least he could be civil.

"Sheldon? Is everything ok? You do know that I'm at work right?"

"Everything is perfectly fine. It's just that my hypothalamus is controlling me right now. I can't seem to lower my blood pressure or get my breathing under control. Talking to you is helping however, and I feel slightly better now. That is fascinating."

"A hypo-whatta? Sheldon, what are you talking about?" Confusion laced through Penny's voice.

"The hypothalamus. Penny, I am experiencing anger. I dislike it. Make it go away."

"Sweetie, what happened?" Her voice took on a defensive poise. "Did they screw up one of your experiments again? Cause I'll kick their asses!"

Sheldon quickly relayed his lunch time conversation. "I never felt the need to strike a person before. Penny, you are making me positively barbaric."

He heard her take a deep breath. "Ok. First off Leonard is a complete **ass**. Don't listen to him. He is trying to make what we have about him. He used to do that a lot. If you want I can fully inform Raj that you are in no way, shape, or form a Ken doll down there. As for Howard, he just likes sex. If it's even possible he likes it too much. He wants details to feed his imagination, something that I am very proud that you didn't do." Sheldon heard Penny answer someone in the background. "Listen sweetie, I have to get back to work. I'm off at 6, so I'll see you for dinner?"

"Of course Penny, sorry for disturbing you."

Even Sheldon could make out the smile in her voice when she answered him. "You never bother me sweetie. Bye." Sheldon hung up, feeling quite better about the whole situation.

Sheldon might have felt better but Penny didn't. What right did any of them have? They should know better than to try and force Sheldon to talk about their relationship! He was a private person for Christ's sake! Penny practically ran up the stairs to 4A. She knew that they were home, knew that they were about to eat. Without bothering to knock (again), she threw the door opened. It gave her a large sense of satisfaction to hear to slam.

"Might I have a word or two with all of you?" Penny seethed. Sheldon and Marie very quickly looked at each other and then down at their food, the other boys just stared at her. "Nothing to say huh? Funny, you three had a whole lot to say to Sheldon a couple of hours ago." She smiled as she shut the door and entered the room. She glanced at Howard. "You're in my spot. Move." Howard quickly jumped out off of the middle cushion to sit on the floor.

Penny sat down and heard Sheldon whisper, "My spot." She gently patted his knee before continuing.

"Howard, you are disgusting. Rest assured that no matter **what** goes on in my or Sheldon's bedroom, you will never be apart of it. Not in this life time or any other life time. And you, Raj. Ken doll? Trust me on this one...**not** a ken doll. Pretty sure that whatever you're packing has nothing on Sheldon. That officially ends the sharing portion of the evening." Penny's eyes narrowed as she glared at Leonard. "And as for you Leonard... if you **ever** talk to Sheldon like that or talk to **about** me like that again I will personally guarantee that you will be the one looking like a Ken doll. Do you understand?"

"Penny, I just –" Leonard tried to defend himself.

"But nothing Leonard! You saw me first?! Like **that** had anything to do with this? If you want to know the truth, I may have seen you first, but I noticed **Sheldon **first! He looked at my eyes and not my chest. I went to **his** board first and listened to what **he** had to say! And yeah, when he opened his mouth I thought 'oh my god no way' but once I figured out how to translate Sheldon I understand him now. And it's awesome. And you will not take this away from me. I will ask again, do you understand?"

Leonard just nodded and left the apartment as quickly as he could.

"Seriously?" Marie asked the room, "He seriously called dibs on a human being?" She shook her head. "How could ever have dated him?" She asked Penny, "Dude is a total dingus!"

"Marie, dingus is not a word, kindly stop using it." Sheldon told her.

"Yes it is ding-gus. Dingus. Means dipshit." She told him with a smile.

"I believe that I prefer dingus." Sheldon told Marie before turning to Penny. He whispered to her, "You noticed me first?"

Penny looked up at him from under her lashes. "Sweetie, I always notice you first. Always have, always will."

"You won't get bored with me?" Penny just shook her head.

"How can I be bored with you? You're a genius. Although you genius guys sure do have a low attention span."

"Didn't you hear your progeny Penny? He isn't a genius, he's a dingus." Sheldon stopped to give a gaspy laugh at his own rhyme. "That implies dipshit apparently, which is defined as a stupid, annoying person." Penny laughed at him. Stupid and annoying...yeah, Leonard's a dingus.

**A/N: Don't really have a note for this other than the fact that last week's episode where Sheldon takes care of Amy? Made me laugh out loud at that situation...then it made me sad. I don't want to admit it but it seems like there is less story and more just trying to pump out an episode on time. Not much thought put in the last couple of them at least.**


	18. Chapter 18

It was only a matter of time before Howard got the Tardis M3 up and running again. He wanted it done just as badly as everyone else, partly because he will have done it so why not just a little bit early, and partly because the Almighty Sheldon thought he couldn't. There was nothing more exciting than proving Sheldon wrong. Not even Scarlet Johansson in his bed ready and willing would make him happier than seeing Sheldon twitch and have to apologize to him.

So it was understandable that he had been MIA for the month and a half since 'the discovery of the decade'. He was determined to get it right, and when he did he flew away from his screaming mother and drove over to Sheldon and Leonard's apartment. He banged open the door, for once not bothering to knock, and saw Marie going through Leonard's desk.

It was a disaster area. Drawers pulled out, the contents of which were all over the floor. Various notebooks were strewn around the room, some open some not. Marie was sitting on the floor going through various flash drives.

"What are you doing?" Marie jumped at the sound of Howard's voice. She wasn't expecting anyone to be back for another hour so so.

"Is that the Tardis? Did you get it working? Can I go home?" She shot the questions off rapidly, trying to deflect what she was obviously doing.

"I think it's working." Howard answered with pride in his voice before suspicion took over. "What are you doing Marie? Why does it look like a bomb exploded in Leonard's desk?"

"It's not what it looks like." Her sentence ended in a question.

"It looks like you are going through his stuff."

"Ok, so maybe it is what it looks like." Marie admitted.

Howard looked around at the mess and then took a good look at what Marie was doing with the flash drive. "Why are you changing his data? You can't mess with people's work like that."

"Says the man who decided to play with an electric can opener while in the North Pole?" Was Marie's rapid response. Howard had the decency to blush before continuing.

"Point taken. In my defense it was either that or killing him. Why are you messing with his data?"

"First off," Marie started. "It was **not** cool to mess with him up there. The dad in my time still hasn't even gotten over it. You had completely destroyed his reputation and credibility because you guys refused to talk to him about his behavior and decided to take matters in your own hands. If you had done that to me I would have tied your hands and feet together and left you in the ocean to let nature take its course. Secondly, it's not Leonard's original work. I doubt he would even **know** that I changed the results around."

Howard had the decency to blush and look away before asking, "So whose work is it?"

"My dad's."

"Well why does Leonard have it?"

"Because he stole it."

"Why would he steal Sheldon's work? They aren't even in the same field." At this point Howard was sure Marie was making stuff up.

She gave a long suffering sigh before continuing. "Because eventually all of this will prove string theory. Leonard has been copying it for years. Eventually dad will figure all of it out and once he does Leonard will copy it, wipe it all from dad's hard dives and backup files, and claim it as his." She told him in a mono-tone voice. "Leonard will win my dad's Nobel Prize. Everything that dad was working for will be for nothing.

Penny had **finally** convinced Sheldon to play hookey from work. It took a lot of comic books and promises to dress up however he wanted for comic-con for it to happen but happen it did. They had, in Penny's opinion, the perfect day. Sheldon woke her up in her favorite way. Sex is so much better than coffee. They went out for breakfast and saw a movie. She even let Sheldon talk her into going to the train museum in exchange for holding hands while there.

She teased him the whole day. Light touches here or there, making sure to call him Dr. Cooper every once in awhile, but nothing turned him on more than her actually listening to what he had to say and having a conversation about things that interested him. They managed to make it to the car before Sheldon's self-imposed rule of no affection in public was thrown out the window. He kept kissing her at red lights, lightly touching her neck and face while she drove. She was pulling him up the stairs to her apartment to release her sudden tension when Sheldon stopped dead in his tracks. Penny looked back at him, concerned about the sudden shift in mood when suddenly he opened the door to his apartment.

"Who steals my Nobel Prize?" Sheldon asked the room. Marie and Howard looked at him guiltily. Sheldon took a look around the room. "Good Lord, have we been robbed?"

"Sorry dad, I'll pick it up."

"The mess is irrelevant at this moment. Who steals my Nobel Marie?" She stared at him, but didn't answer. "You will tell me what you know right now!" He yelled at her.

Marie immediately sat down on the arm of the chair. Her father had never yelled at her in her entire life. He always told her that just because you were the loudest it didn't mean you were right. Guessing that particular ideal wasn't discovered yet, she started talking. "I wasn't exactly telling the truth when I told you that I didn't know what you guys were fighting about...that night." She took a deep breath and continued, "You and mom had a fight about Leonard. He won the Nobel for proving string theory, but it wasn't his work. Mom wanted you to confront him, to make him admit that he stole your work. You kept telling her that you tried, but without proof no one would believe you. She started to leave, to go talk to him and make him give back your work. You said that if she did she was no wife of yours and that you refused to go crawling to Leonard. Mom kept saying that she could make him see reason." Marie was crying now, completely caught up in the past. "You told her you knew what she was up too. That she was gonna fuck it out of him. You said once a whore always a whore. She got so mad at you! She slapped you, grabbed us, and left. Why did you say that? Why didn't you just go with her? Why didn't you just listen to someone other than yourself for once!"

Sheldon just stared at her, absorbing this information. He carefully walked around a sobbing Marie and a stunned Howard to go to his room and quietly shut the door.

Penny walked out of the doorway and went to Marie. She gave her a tight hug then turned to Howard. "Is it fixed yet?"

Howard gave a small nod. "I think so. Yeah, it should work."

"Good. The sooner she is back where she belongs the sooner things can get back to normal." With that she turned to enter the lion's den.

_Knock knock knock_

"Sheldon?"

_Knock knock knock_

"Sheldon?"

_Knock knock knock_

"Sheldon?" Without waiting for him to acknowledge her, she entered his bedroom.

He was sitting on the floor, his back braced against the bed. Penny knelt down in front of him and tilted his head up to look him in the eyes. He stared back at her, but it was with a look that she had never seen on him. His eyes were vacant, the color gone from his face.

"Sweetie? Talk to me." She implored him.

He stared at her for a good minute before talking. "You do know that I won't mean it right? You know that I don't think about you like that right? You're not...well you have slightly loose morals and little regard for housekeeping skills, but you're not...that." Deep down Penny knew that. She knew that he would have been mad, pissed actually, to have someone who was supposed to be a friend turn on you like that and use you to take the one thing that you wanted. And ok, she was a little bit slutty when she moved into 4B, but that was a long time ago. The allure for one night stands had long since worn off. Looking at Sheldon, knowing that he couldn't fully process what just happened in the living room she pushed back the feelings of inadequacy for now.

"You never said that to me."

Sheldon gave Penny a sharp look. "Yes, I did. Marie just informed us that I did."

Penny just shook her head. "But **you** never said that to **me.** It's all in the future. And now you get to decide if you will ever say that to me. Something tells me that you won't. We have a rare chance here. Sheldon, because of your daughter we have a chance to change everything. How many people can change their future before it happens?"

"Penny, I –"

"No. No blame no guilt no anything over something that hasn't happened yet. I'll make a deal with you: you don't call me a whore or anything that means whore and I won't ever drive when I'm angry ok?"

"Deal."

"Seal it with a kiss Sheldon, or it doesn't count!" Right as their lips met an unholy scream came from the living room.

"What happened to all of my stuff?!"


	19. Chapter 19

Sheldon felt anger many times in his life. He was angry that his father never understood him, angry that only Memaw seemed to care about his work, angry that Leonard had the audacity to call 'dibs' on a living breathing creature. Sheldon has only felt that physical violence was needed four times in his life. Funny how all of them revolved around Leonard. Leonard, who was his supposed best friend. Leonard, his room mate. Leonard was supposed to be the one person in this world (other than Memaw of course) who would never mock him or hurt him.

So it was surprising how wonderful it felt to hit him. It was surprising how satisfying it was to hear the crack that meant his aim was right on target. It felt good to know that his nose was more than likely broken.

"Get out." Sheldon's voice was low and quiet.

"Sheldon, what the hell? Why did you hit me? **She **is the one going through **my** work!"

"It's amazing to me that you will continue to play the dumb card Leonard. Alright, I will enlighten you. You have taken my data and are planning to manipulate facts to make to seem like you have proven string theory. My theory! My life's work and you were just going to..."

"To what Sheldon? Steal it? Take it from who it belongs to? Sound familiar?!"

Another quick punch had Leonard doubled over. "If you **ever** talk about her like that again, I will personally see to it that everyone knows what happened here today. I will ensure that you won't even be able to hold down a job flipping burgers in Canada. Do you understand me?" He seethed. Turning to Howard he asked, "Please make sure that he receives care for whatever physical damages have been inflicted on his person. I don't want to see him again." Howard helped Leonard out of the apartment.

Penny closed the door behind him before turning to Sheldon. "What are you going to do?"

"I plan on developing better password controls and firewalls. Obviously I have been lacking in my security."

Penny just shook her head. "I mean about Leonard. Aren't you going to tell people?"

"No. Not just yet anyway. I have a very low tolerance for people who try to take my work this is true. However...Penny, he wasn't always like this. He wasn't. He is...he used to be my best friend."

"You're conflicted because of the emotions that you are currently experiencing?" Marie asked him.

Sheldon just nodded.

The next morning, bright and early to Penny's great distaste, Marie was ready to go home. She was practically bouncing off the walls, high off of excitement and Mountain Dew. There were only a few people there, just her parents and Howard. Leonard had been banned from the building, and a private word from Sheldon got Cal Tech's security upgraded. Penny still didn't like how easy Leonard had gotten off the hook, but looking back it wasn't surprising. The more she thought about it the more it seemed like a Sheldon thing to do: let them do whatever they wanted to him and then forgive.

Penny turned and saw that Marie was ready to go home. She was fully strapped in and both Sheldon and Howard had assured her constantly that everything was right this time. She would go exactly where she needed to be. Once Sheldon and Howard said their goodbyes and stepped back, Penny pulled her in for a tight hug.

"Apparently I **will** be seeing you again in a couple of years, but somehow I don't think that it will be the same. I'm going to miss you baby girl." Marie pulled back with tears in her eyes.

"I am **going** to see you soon. It will be like nothing happened. You'll see. I'll be back home where I belong with both of my parents, one of whom will have won the Nobel Prize now."

Penny glanced over at Sheldon, "Yeah. He'll be insufferable now."

Marie laughed at her. "You mean he isn't already?"

"Marie?" Sheldon called. "Ready?" She nodded, gave him one last hug, shut her eyes,and activated her Tardis.

Marie stood still, and refused to open her eyes. This trip felt different. It wasn't rocky, it didn't fell like she was being pulled apart. It was smooth and quiet.

"Marie? Marie!" Her father's voice. Her actual father! The one that **knew** how she liked her food and why she thought that the Flash was just a glorified marathon runner.

"Daddy!" She screamed when she opened her eyes, launching herself at him.

"I am so sorry I didn't tell you." He softly whispered in her hair. "Your mother and I decided a long time ago not to tell you sweetie. We didn't truly know what really changed."

Mom. That word alone was what made her pull away from her dad and take a look around. No one was there but them. The campus was empty.

"Where is everyone? Where's mom?"

Sheldon tugged her in for another hug. "You're 10 minutes early. Currently everyone is gathering their belongings before heading over here to greet you in your moment of triumph."

"And mom?"

"Marie, sweetie. There are somethings that you can never really change." Sheldon told her softly, tears in his eyes. "Just remember that no matter what, she loved you. Every single day that she was aware of your existence, she loved you."

Sheldon shot up straight in bed, tears freely flowing down his face. He was tangled in the bed sheets, and was shaking. Slowly he turned his head to the other room's occupant.

_Shake, shake, shake_

_Shake, shake, shake_

_Shake, shake, shake_

A hand reached up and slapped him. "It is to early to be up. Back to sleep Sheldon."

"But Penny" He whined at her.

A still attractive yet slightly bulky form slowly rose into a sitting position. "Sheldon, your pregnant wife and unborn child want to sleep." Penny took a better look at him. "Sheldon, sweetie, what's wrong?"

He pulled her closer to him, and she snuggled into his chest. "Bad dream?" She asked him quietly. He nodded. "Tell me about it."

"Well, our progeny came from the future because Howard messed up the Tardis. Why I would allow Howard to touch anything that comes near my child is completely illogical. Our child served as a catalyst to our starting a romantic relationship. Leonard stole my work. You died."

"Leonard stole your work? He wouldn't do that." Penny told him.

"Woman, will you ever listen to me! You died!" He tried to pull her even closer. "Don't die ok?" He said into her hair.

She leaned up and gave him a kiss. "I'll try my hardest. Your kid and I want to go back to sleep. You ok?" Sheldon nodded.

Her watched her breathing settle and even out, then he grabbed her close and kissed her head before falling back asleep.


	20. Chapter 20

Author's Note:

Well...this story ended a lot sooner than I thought that it would but I enjoyed it. I always knew that I was going to end it as a dream because I always knew that Penny wasn't going to be there when Marie got back. I just couldn't **kill her** kill her. So, I hope that no one was too upset by that.

I am glad that people seemed to like this story and THIRLLED that people decided to follow or favorite me or my story. Your reviews have made my day and I loved seeing my e-mail icon light up on my phone.

I would love to know what you really thought of it though. I would like to do more of these but I want to get better at it. Positive reviews make my day, don't get me wrong. But, I would like to know what you guys liked, didn't like, if you would have changed things, if there weren't enough descriptions or dialogue; things like that.

As always, thank you for reading and thank you for letting me find my own little niche in this fandom!


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